


The Cute Barista

by Batsutousai



Series: Holiday Card Ficlets 2018 [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Established Relationship, M/M, Multi, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 12:49:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17808263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batsutousai/pseuds/Batsutousai
Summary: Mick and Len have very similar taste in men, sometimes.





	The Cute Barista

**Author's Note:**

> Every winter season, I send out cards to anyone willing to give me their address, and I decided three winters ago to start adding fic to the cards. This year's prompt was coffeeshop.  
> This is the only one of last year's ficlets that is an actual coffeeshop AU. :'D I do wish I'd been able to flesh it out a bit more, but I ended up having to forcing the muse to write, and this was one of the ficlets that suffered for it. (Well, _I_ think it suffered.)

The problem with C.C. Jitters blooming into a chain and buying out most of the smaller coffee shops, was that way too many of their stores were either near a police station or other government building, or was otherwise frequented by cops and the sort who might actually recognise a couple of criminals who just wanted a cup of joe at what counted for ass o'clock in the morning for those who had night jobs.

Probably the only remaining escape from corporate coffee in Central City, was a student-run endeavour over by Central City University. Surprisingly, the coffee was usually pretty good, the sandwiches were reasonable, the fruit was only a little bruised from rough handling, and the prices were lower than Jitters. Of course, the trade-off was that they didn't do breakfast sandwiches or pastries, some of their more complicated drinks were a bit hit-or-miss (depending on the barista), and it was almost always full of college students.

Still, it was Len and Mick's go-to place for coffee at odd hours of the day (and night, during exam season), and the majority of their safehouses and the motels they were willing to crash at were within a five-block radius of the place.

It was just such an odd hour of the day, Len bowed over his plans for their next heist, when Mick got back from a coffee run and announced, "New barista is cute."

Len blinked, thoughts derailed by his certainty that it was the wrong time of year for new hires. "It's November."

Mick nodded and set a steaming cup of coffee onto the coaster that was probably the only clear space on their table.

"Hm." Probably a case of a student realising they'd need money for the holidays; it wouldn't be the first time, though they usually ended up working at one of the retail stores near campus, rather than hiring on at the coffee shop. "How cute?" he had to ask, because it wasn't often that Mick would feel the need to announce that.

Mick grunted and held one of the plastic-wrapped sandwiches from the shop in front of Len's face. Only once he'd accepted it and started unwrapping the plastic, did Mick say, "Bumbling. Young. Brilliant."

Oh, _that_ sounded like a dangerous combination. "You find out when he's on shift again?"

Mick moved away, likely intending to get his own sandwich and coffee to take over to the couch, where he'd watch the tv on low so as to not disturb Len's work. "Nope," he said, popping the 'p' in a satisfied sort of way.

Len sighed; it sounded like he would be doing the coffee runs himself for a while.

~~

It took him four days, a heist, and moving safe houses, but Len did finally end up in the coffee shop at the same time as Mick's cute barista. Who, yes, was _absolutely_ cute: tall and lanky, hair messy like he had a habit of running his hands through it, enough history of tripping over his own feet that he laughed about it even as he flushed an attractive shade of pink, and a mess of complicated chemistry work spread out over the table the employees sat at during lulls.

Len was maybe, just a little bit, in love.

"You're not a student," cute barista said as he was making the drinks.

"Mmm, no. Local." Len cast a glance towards the employee table. "Let me guess: Chemistry major, junior year."

Cute barista let out an embarrassed laugh. "Forensic science and criminal justice double major, actually," he said, and Len heard a warning alarm trill in his head. "And I'm actually a freshman."

Oh, no. Cute, smart, and _dangerous_.

"We," he told Mick when he got home with the sandwiches and coffee, "have a problem."

"Told 'ya."

"Mick, he's going into _law_."

Mick whistled, low and impressed, as he took the bag with the sandwiches and pulled one out to open.

"And he's a _freshman_."

"Jailbait," Mick said.

Len set the drinks onto the wooden crate serving as a temporary coffee table so he could flop dramatically onto the couch next to Mick without chancing spilling anything.

Mick huffed a laugh and held out a sandwich to him. "Eat."

Len accepted the sandwich. "We don't even know if he'd be willing to sleep with a couple of older guys."

"Not yet," Mick replied, because he knew how Len thought.

Len nodded. "Well, we have plenty of time. And lots of chances to do research: Hot drinks season, stalking him while he's doing his holiday shopping, comforting him during exam stress..."

"His name would be a start," Mick pointed out.

Len blinked, then turned to stare at Mick. "I forgot to ask."

"Yup."

It turned out that the cute barista's name was Barry, and it took a couple of months, but he was absolutely willing to sleep with a couple of older men. So long as they weren't criminals.

(Len and Mick might have lied about a couple of things.)

.


End file.
